To meet the demand for natural resources, companies often invest significant amounts of time and money in searching for and extracting oil, natural gas, and other subterranean resources from the earth. Particularly, once a desired resource is discovered below the surface of the earth, drilling and production systems are often employed to access and extract the resource. These systems may be located onshore or offshore depending on the location of a desired resource. Further, such systems generally include a completion system that includes wellhead assembly through which the resource is extracted. These completion systems may include a wide variety of components, such as various casings, hangers, valves, fluid conduits, and the like, that control drilling and/or extraction operations.
One type of completion assembly includes a wellhead with one or more strings of casing supported by casing hangers in the wellhead. Attached to the wellhead may be a tubing spool with a tubing hanger secured to a string of tubing that lands in the tubing spool above the wellhead. The tubing spool may have a plurality of vertical passages that surround a vertical bore. The vertical fluid passages provide access through the tubing spool for hydraulic fluid or electrical lines to operate and control equipment located downhole, such a safety valves or chemical injection units. Electrical and/or hydraulic control lines may extend alongside the outside of the tubing to control downhole valves, temperature sensors, and the like. A production tree is then installed on top of the tubing spool. The production tree has a vertical bore that receives upward flow of fluid from the tubing string and wellhead.
Further, over the last thirty years, the search for oil and gas offshore has moved into progressively deeper waters. Wells are now commonly drilled at depths of several hundreds, to even several thousands, of feet below the surface of the ocean. In addition, wells are now being drilled in more remote offshore locations. As such, it remains a priority to reduce the complexity and height of completion systems, thereby assisting to prevent failure and reduce the footprint of the completion systems, particularly in these remote locations where maintenance may be difficult.